Chincoteague Island

I truly love Brant shooting. Something about those little sea geese really appeals to me. Can't quite put a finger on it, but I love to shoot them. When they are feeding on eel grass I truly love to eat them too.

I have an old friend from Tom's River, NJ who always talked about shooting Brant. I attempted to book a hunt up on Barnegat Bay, NJ but it fell through and I haven't ever gotten around to trying again. I figured the next best place was Chincoteague Island. Turned out to be a great trip. Hunted with Captain Wayne Lewis. He guides for fish in the Summer and waterfowl in the Winter. Really knows the area and has blinds in great locations. Kelly and I shot limits of Brant each day. Killed three banded birds the second day we ever hunted up there, can't beat that. Wayne's Brant blinds are located on a shallow reef out in Chincoteague Bay. The reef is covered with "Brant Salad", a dark green leafy grass that I have also heard referred to as sea lettuce. The birds flock to it by the thousands to feed. I would have to say that Brant taste better when feeding on eel grass like they do down at Cape Hatteras. But the shooting was top notch.

The Brant move in and out of the Bay on some schedule based partly on the tides and partly on how hungry they are. Or sometimes when they get pressured they will move around. We went out before daylight both mornings and the Brant moved within an hour or two. But I had a friend hunt up there one year and they shot puddleducks in the morning and shot their Brant after noon each day. So I guess the Brant are going to move into the Bay to feed a couple times most days. Brant tip up, but don't dive. So they need the water level at no more than 10-12 inches deeper than the food source and preferably have the water right at the top of the vegetation. Makes it easy to get a cripple if you have one. They show a lot of white and never dive so if you knock them down they are going to end up on your duck strap.

Can't say much about the highly touted duck and goose shooting out there. There are thousands of Snow Geese on the big Wildlife Refuge, but a lady who runs a bird-cleaning service told me that most years she rarely processes a Snow Goose after opening weekend of the season. The birds get educated really fast. I have a friend who goes to Chincoteague Island to duck hunt and has been very satisfied. There are huge marshes all around the island and if your timing is right you can kill a wide variety of puddleducks and divers. But to me the Brant hunting is the reason to go there.

Chincoteague Island is a really neat place. Very old, very quaint little community. Sort of a tourist mecca, but in the Winter it was really nice. Between the decoy shops, the art galleries and the wildlife refuge there is plenty to do and see. There is also an ice cream parlor - The Island Creamery, that occupied more of my time than any of the other attractions. :-)

We stayed at the Sea Hawk Motel right in the middle of town. Right across the street from the Creamery. Only had about a 1 minute drive to meet the guide at the city dock. About a 15 minute boat ride out to the blind we hunted. It was a large blind. Only about 6' by 6' shooting area, which was the second floor. The boat well was about 25' long with a ladder up through a trap door to get into the top floor. Whatever, it worked fine for the Brant. He had other, normal blinds, but they had no boat well. So, when Capt Lewis took out new clients he put them in the big blind rather than one of the other blinds, so he could stay with you and coach you on when to shoot and retrieve the birds. I will insist that I hunt one of the smaller blinds next time, but we killed our birds, and then some, so I'm not complaining.

Normally I wouldn't comment on the non-shooting parts of a hunting trip, but Capt Lewis told us to try out a certain restaurant, The Island Family Restaurant. It was probably the best food I've ever eaten in my life. One night we each had a dinner that consisted of prime rib and fried monster shrimp stuffed with crab meat. Just to think about it is almost enough to make me drive up there tomorrow just to eat there again. So if you go to Chincoteague Island to hunt, don't miss it.